Flour industry executives to meet food secretary

The flour industry of the country is in panic mode and will be meeting the food secretary this week.

If the government doesn't intervene regarding the fast pace of exports, they say, flour prices will increase further by 10% in the 2-3 months. Heavy buying by private traders, rapid exports and holding by farmers has made wheat availability scarce.

Millers are not able to decide about stocking more to hedge against future price rise because the government can impose stock limits in the future to control prices as it did for cooking oils and pulses.


"The four milling industry is currently in panic. We haven't seen a situation like this ever before. At the peak of the harvest season, we are finding it tough to buy wheat at optimum price," said Navneet Chitlangia, vice president, All India Roller Flour Mills Association.

Traders said the entire milling industry is dependent on wheat from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar as wheat is not available in Punjab and Haryana.